Submitted by: Cathy Millburn

 

 

REVEREND THOMAS MILLER SMITH

 

 

 

Thomas Miller Smith, b July 27, 1899 at Stranger, Falls County, Texas, d December 10, 1975 in Marlin, Texas and buried in Calvary Cemetery ‑ was a son of Isaac and Anna May (Swinnea) Smith of the Stranger Community. On December 22, 1916 in the Fairview Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Miller married Ina Eula McCoy, b February 11, 1900 at Stranger ‑ a daughter of James Leland and Margaret (Hufstetler) McCoy, who had settled in the Stranger Community from Tennessee.

Miller and Ina both attended the Lon Morris Junior College in East Texas, and attended Southwestern University in Georgetown. Ina completed her college training in Economics at North Texas State

Teacher's College in Denton.

Miller and Ina were both reared in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination of their parents, although Miller's mother was a member of the Methodist denomination. After their marriage, they became Methodists, and when Miller became a minister, it was in the Methodist faith.

Miller's first pastorate was the Methodist Church in Dew, Texas ‑ a small community between Fairfield and Teague, Texas ‑ followed by five or six years of service in each of the Methodist Churches at Franklin, The Groves in Port Arthur, Rockdale, Hughes Springs, with his last pulpit being at St. Paul's in Bryan, Texas. Ina worked with Miller in each of his churches, and they became a much loved couple wherever they served. The couple had no children of their own, but were the favorites of many nieces and nephews, as well as young people who were not related to them.

When Reverend Thomas Miller Smith died, numerous people recalled how much he had always loved people. His widow continues to reside in Marlin, Texas, where her yard has often been named "yard of the month" by Marlin's Garden Clubs. She supports the First Methodist Church of Marlin, and continues to give to the family churches in Blue Ridge and Stranger.

 

 

 

Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.  "Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Commission, page 421 column 1 and 2.  
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.